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The bilaterian mouth and anus evolved from a simple gut with one gastric opening. Here, the authors review comparative data on several organisms and conclude that the single opening probably evolved into both mouth and anus (amphistomy).
In many fish stocks, older and larger fish are found in deeper waters compared with younger individuals. This concept of ontogenetic deepening is now proposed to be a result of harvesting rather than a natural phenomenon.
A synthesis of epidemiological, laboratory and economic data provides suggestions for optimal vaccination strategies against foot-and-mouth disease in east African livestock.
Information on species abundances and distributions is essential for developing conservation policy and assessing change. Yet publically available data increases exploitation potential. This Perspective presents a decision framework to assess the risks and benefits of publically sharing biodiversity data.
A transgenerational study in sticklebacks suggests that when an individual is exposed to conflicting information about predation, either directly through personal experience or indirectly through parental exposure, the typical response is to assume a predator is present.
Genomes of eight populations of the copepod Tigriopus californicus show a correlation between rapid mitochondrial evolution and compensatory nuclear evolution, suggesting that mitonuclear incompatibilities might drive speciation in this system.
Several recent theoretical studies develop tools to predict species diversity in large model ecosystems, setting a new benchmark for understanding the mechanism of species coexistence in natural ecosystems.
A comparison of men who migrated from Bangladesh to the United Kingdom at different ages, alongside men who were lifelong residents of both countries, reveals that early environments determine levels of reproductive hormones and secondary sexual characteristics.
While most species have two sexes, multi-sex systems also occur in nature. The frequency of sexual reproduction is a key parameter to explain how many sexes a species has.
Two deer bones from the 120,000-year-old Neanderthal site of Neumark-Nord 1 bear damage consistent with impact from a wooden spear. The hunting lesions are the earliest clear examples of such bone damage and give clues to how Neanderthals hunted their prey.
An extensive dataset indicates that nitrogen-fixing trees are most abundant in young, dry tropical forests. The finding expands the potential for natural nitrogen fertilization and carbon dioxide sequestration in areas recovering from land use.
Environmental factors affect cancer incidence in humans. Here, it is argued that anthropogenic environmental disturbances are likewise responsible for cancer in wild animal populations via a range of different mechanisms.
New details of the social and sex lives of platypodine ambrosia beetles support a controversial link between parental monogamy and complex animal societies.
Microbial communities may often be composed of a wide diversity of taxa that perform similar functions. Here, the authors discuss the roles of function, functional redundancy and taxonomy in microbial community assembly and coexistence.
How biotic interactions change across spatial scales is not well characterized. Here, the authors outline a theoretical framework to explore the spatial scaling of multitrophic communities, and present testable predictions on network-area relationships (NARs).
Craniofacial modelling illustrates the lack of a biomechanical function for the hominin browridge and points to a potential role in social communication.
An 85,000-year-old Homo sapiens finger bone in Saudi Arabia is the oldest directly dated fossil for our species outside Africa and the Levant. This suggests a more prolonged human expansion out of Africa, and along a different route, than previously thought.
